The Heat and the Fire: The Heat from Jasper's POV
by 4MeJasper
Summary: This is an alternate version/one-shot outtake of the first five chapters of the Heat:  Another Jasper/Bella Kidnap Story.  The main multi-chapter story is yet another Jasper/Bella kidnap story, in which Peter kidnaps Bella for Jasper's birthday.
1. Chapter 1

The usual disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns it all. I just like playing with the characters. Especially Jasper. And this is his version of his story…

The Heat and Fire – Another Jasper/Bella Kidnap Story – Jasper's POV

PLEASE NOTE - THIS ONE-SHOT IS AN OUTTAKE FROM ANOTHER STORY,AND IS NOT DESIGNED TO STAND ALONE.

_This is Jasper's POV of my story "The Heat: Another Jasper/Bella Kidnap Story."_

_At this point, this story is only a one-shot._

Fuck, the scent swirling through the air is intense. The burn from it is everywhere, as if the very air itself is on fire around me. It has been like this for what seems like forever, when I know it has only been a few days.

Edward had to run to another state after a mere forty-five minutes of exposure to Bella's scent.

Pussy.

When you find your mate, you do what you have to do, you don't fucking run. If she smells like heaven and hell rolled into one, you're both lucky and damned. Who would have guessed that my mate would also be my singer? Thank God I had been born and raised during the vampire wars, which gave me the strength and endurance to be what I had to be in this situation.

This all started a few days ago.

I was at home, getting ready for another god awful day at Forks High School when Alice froze. I saw the familiar blank look flash across her face indicating she was experiencing a vision. I waited patiently for her to tell me what she saw.

She turned, looked at me, and softly said, "Don't go."

My phone rang and Peter's number flashed across the caller i.d. I flicked it open. "Fucker," I answered.

I heard his laugh. "I got a birthday present for you, but you gotta come to Texas to pick it up. Better hurry…" and then he hung up.

What the…

Alice looked at me and waited. "I have to go," I said.

She sighed. "I'm leaving for Paris, then. Good-bye."

I took her small hand in mine, and looked at her closely. She was trying to rein in her emotions, but they were reading sadness and resignation. "Is there something we should be discussing, darlin'?" I asked gently.

She shook her head, her short, bobbed hair barely moving from the gesture.

I knew she and Peter didn't get along, but this reaction seemed extreme even for her. I decided to let her know I wasn't going to budge. "OK, bye," I replied.

We'd been together for a long time; she'd help me find my sanity after the years with Maria. I had wanted her to begin looking for her mate once we had settled with the Cullens and found some stability, but she never had. I was quite sure that my chances of finding my own mate were nil, since I had created and destroyed so many women during the Southern Wars with Maria. I always thought that I'd probably killed my own mate during those years, and had just been so numbed by my effort to not feel the pain around me that I never picked up on her presence.

Alice turned away, looking over her shoulder to give me a sad smile, then went downstairs. When I heard her talking to Esme, I decided to start getting ready for a trip to Texas and whatever madness Peter had in store for me there.

Since I was going to Texas, I didn't put on my usual Alice-selected attire. I pulled on jeans and a t-shirt and headed downstairs myself.

Passing Emmett and Carlisle, I told them, "Gotta go to Texas, got a call from Peter." Emmett grunted, "OK, man," while shuffling through some papers. Carlisle looked up at me, watching me closely, as he always did. He never treated me gingerly like the others, as he trusted my judgment. I'd had some slips, but so had the others.

I'd even agreed to cover for Rosalie's slips, claiming they were my own. Edward knew, of course, and I was sure Carlisle knew as well. But Carlisle had respected me for being willing to cover for my vain coven mate. She worried about Carlisle finding out, because appearances mattered to her. They mattered to me too, but I was no longer weak, I had become strong enough to carry another. She was still quite fragile.

So I left, grabbing the Ducati from the garage and heading for SeaTac. When my plane arrived in El Paso, I had a text from Peter. "Can't meet you; get to house on your own." 

Fucker.

I ran to the house, arriving just in time to take a pissed off phone call from Charlotte. And she was really hot. She loves Peter, but she puts up with a lot from him. He may be my oldest friend, but I know he can be a real jerk at times. Maybe even most of the time.

"What has he done now?" I asked her.

Charlotte said she would give me the quick summary. "He grabbed some girl for you," she said. "But he ran out of gas on the way to the house. The girl's smell had been so strong that he didn't trust himself to carry her the rest of the way, so he wanted me to pick her up. I ride out into the desert on Peter's Ducati carrying a container of gas and find the truck. Naturally, by the time I got to the truck, said young lady had woken up from her drug-induced nap, gotten out of the truck, and hiked off into the desert. And now I'm out looking for her."

Listening to the description, I was sure I knew who she was talking about. It could only be Isabella Swan, Edward's singer. The one he had fled to Alaska to get away from after spending all of forty-five minutes sitting next to her in Biology Lab.

I myself had never been closer to her than across the cafeteria. We didn't have any classes together, and Alice helped me steer clear, as I wasn't anxious to be tempted by anyone in that small high school. If Edward had problems, I was sure she smelled good. I decided it would be better to keep my distance.

Then Charlotte said, "Gotta go, I think I see her up ahead. See you in a while. Kick Peter's ass for me if he gets there before I do, OK?"

I promised her I would and hung up.

A little later, I heard Peter's Ducati pull up to the house and heard Charlotte talking to someone outside. The front door opened, and I decided to face whatever Peter had done.

That's when it hit me.

The scent. I was almost brought to my knees when Bella entered the house. It swirled around me, physically covering me, attacking me even more strongly than her emotions. And Miss Swan's emotions were all over the place. Fear and relief were mixed in with surprise to see me. And just a little bit of arousal when she looked at me in my jeans and black t-shirt. I felt that pretty clearly too.

I sent a wave of relaxation her way when her fear spiked back up, and it looked as though she were about to try to block herself into a corner behind the table. "Easy, darling," I told her.

I moved forward, trying to clear my head enough to listen to her. I decided to be frank. I took a deep breath and held it, burning through my lungs, trying to keep my head clear.

"There had better be a good reason for this," she said, then paused, and continued in a more conciliatory tone, "I mean there's probably something here I'm missing?"

A frank question deserves a frank answer I believed. "Well, Charlotte's' husband thought he would give you to me as a birthday present," I answered

"What for?" she stammered. "I mean, what did he…what are you going to do with me?"

An answer, I needed an answer. The Major was fighting to come to the surface, but after 150 years with him, I knew exactly what would happen if I let him out. I'd changed then destroyed so many people, and also participated in so many orgies of sex, blood and violence during the wars with Maria, that I had developed this second personality just to control the Destroyer within me. I had to restrain him a while longer, as inflicting death and destruction was all he knew how to do.

This woman was supposed to be with me forever. He could and would break her. I was curious, though. I wanted to know who she was. My time spent with the Cullens had made me think I wanted her to choose me. I didn't want to just change her and claim her immediately upon her waking as a vampire, if not while she was undergoing the change.

"I haven't decided yet," I answered.

Charlotte stepped in at this point and took her out of the room.

I waited while Charlotte helped her with a bath. When Charlotte came out of the bedroom, we both sat listening to her cry for a while, and then Peter came back to the house with some food for Bella. Charlotte got tired of waiting for her to come out of the room, so she went to get her.

I tried to adjust myself a bit more to her scent, plus do a "normal human thing", by sitting with Bella at the table while she ate. Naturally, she asked why I wasn't eating, so I told her that I didn't think she and I would be eating at the same table. Not for a while anyway, I thought to myself. After she finished eating, she went back to her room.

Once she closed her door, Peter and I planned the cover story for Bella's disappearance. I called Emmett, and he agreed to drive down to meet us. He was going to bring a big rig large enough to hold her truck, as we didn't want sightings of her truck heading northbound from Texas when it was soon to be featured in a wreck in Idaho.

Peter and I didn't really talk about why he grabbed her during this drive. Once he saw the effect she was having on me, he had become worried. I knew that if something went wrong, he would blame himself. As would I, for that matter. What the hell had he been thinking, kidnapping a chief of police's daughter for me? Didn't he think I could have handled this myself? All he had to have done was tell me about his feeling that she was my mate. But no, he had to get involved.

Peter took his sweet time picking his substitute for Bella's body to use in the staged accident on our way north to meet Emmett. He had an eye for women's bodies, and even though Carlisle would be covering for us, he was being careful. He had already picked up one girl before I arrived, which is what he had been doing instead of meeting me at the airport, but she had tattoos that might survive the fires that would be set to conceal her identity.

So he decided he would have to inspect the body of the prospective victim before making his selection. When he turned on the charm, no woman could resist him. He had no problem getting girls to follow him from the truck stops along the way. And he took his sweet time, disappearing into allies, behind big rigs, wherever, for fifteen to twenty minutes at a stretch. After the first few tries, he returned with nothing but a big smile. Great. The last time, he returned carrying a girl's body.

"Go," was all he said as he climbed back into the rusty cab of the aged orange truck with the girl's body dangling from his arms.

Thank God Emmett met us with a big rig a short time later, so he could drive Bella's truck north without notice. After all, that piece of junk would barely break 50 miles per hour. When I asked Peter how he had managed to drive it all the way to Texas, he just rolled his eyes and moaned.

The plan went well, as Emmett called in the staged accident on a disposable phone after setting the fire. Carlisle covered for us by offering to make the identification of the body for Charlie Swan, who agreed when Carlisle told him there were significant burns to the corpse.

We got back to the house a few hours later with some food, and that's when Bella saw the news story about her death. I didn't need to be an empath to recognize the horror on her face when she saw the news story covering her own death.

I decided to start adjusting her to her new circumstances a bit at a time by telling her, "They won't be looking for you."

But I was still attempting to adjust myself to trying to breathe around her scent. The intoxicating feelings bombarding me from of her emotions, ranging from panic to horror, skyrocketed at my remark. Charlotte stepped in and escorted her back to our bedroom again, while I fought for control.

Finally, the sounds of her even breathing showed she was asleep. I relaxed a bit, since while she slept I didn't have the volatile cocktail of her emotions to deal with on top of her scent.

My God, that scent. It swirled and burned around me, tantalizing and tormenting me with desire, robbing me of speech and rational thought. But I knew if I gave in to my thirst, I risked draining and losing her completely. I was wrecking every piece of furniture I came in contact with, as the arms of chairs and edges of tables alike were crumbling in my grip as I fought against my thirst.

I strained as I sat in my chair now, focusing on her even breathing and heartbeat as she slept. Who knew how much longer I would be able to listen to those simple, reassuringly human rhythms from her.

Finally, Charlotte quietly said, "Are you going to be ok?"

I nodded, willing it to be true.

"Peter was right, wasn't he? She is your mate?" asked Charlotte.

I nodded again. I could feel some emotional turmoil from her, as fear battled with loyalty and determination inside of her, so I waited.

Finally she asked, "Do you want me to do it?"

My reaction was as spontaneous as it was involuntary. In an instant, I was on top of her, snarling, my teeth poised over the back of her neck for a kill bite. A low moan from Bella stopped me just in time.

I slowly backed down, releasing her. "You knew I would do that, didn't you?" I asked slowly.

"Yes. Even if I change her with your permission, you'll probably kill me," she said. "It would be the natural reaction of any of us to the human death of their mate."

"Then why offer?"

"I have this life because of you," she said looking at me steadily.

"I changed you to serve as fodder for Maria's wars, that's nothing to thank me for," I replied quietly, listening to Bella turning in her bed as her breathing and heart rate steadying again.

"No, you let Peter take me with him away instead of destroying me. You paid for that, I know."

I nodded; Maria had really made me suffer. She had not liked losing Peter.

"So, yes, I would die changing your mate for you, if it meant ensuring your happiness," she said.

I stared at her in silence. What could I say? They loved me; I loved them. They were my true family. Among the Cullens, only Carlisle and Emmett were that close to me. But they were loyal to one another first, which was as it should be.

Emmett of course had told Carlisle everything, so Carlisle had asked to stay informed of the situation. He had to know anyway, because he helped with the cover-up.

I was pleasantly surprised when he told me that he had sent Esme ahead to one of his other properties, to open up a house for Bella and I to live in, both before her change and for that first year as a newborn. He planned to stay with us during that time, he told me. He was in the process of resigning from his position in Forks and relocating the family. He had done things like this for other family members, but never for me before.

We knew the Texas Rangers were getting close the next day. We were planning to leave as soon as Bella ate, as I didn't want to have to bring food with us. In addition to not wanting to be weighed down, I also wanted to make sure that Bella's food trash, which could provide evidence of her continuing existence, was not accidentally left anywhere for the Texas Rangers to find.

Carlisle was on his way to the house, as he said he wanted to monitor the situation. I knew that whatever happened, he was taking a risk. He would have to take time off from his "doctoring", and I couldn't help but wondering how that would work for him.

"I'm actually looking forward to it," he assured me. "I'll be able to do some consulting and some writing. Seeing patients cuts into my writing and research time."

My gift told me he was lying, and he smiled at me, knowing he was caught. But sometimes lies are the glue that holds a family together. The Cullen coven had long succeeded in blending in with human society based on the success of our lies, but it was hard to fool one another with them.

And of course, the Texas Rangers showed up early. One had to respect them, though. They had managed to figure out that her truck was here in Texas. Who would have thought that Charlie would lojack that rust bucket? Well, it was carrying his only daughter, after all. We should have anticipated it. No, not we. Peter was the one that brought the truck here.

But before Peter could send them away, the dog picked up Bella's scent. She, of course, saw the whole thing. She started to go to the door right after the attack, but I didn't want her to get close to Peter when he was feeding. Fortunately, she stopped before actually reaching the front door. Her fear was about to throw my control over the edge, so I put her out then carried her to bed.

After I laid her down gently, I decided to take the opportunity to scent her. I nuzzled up and down her length, occasionally allowing myself to dig my nose in somewhere particularly nice, leaving my smell on her fragile warm body. I couldn't wait to actually hold her in my arms when she was awake and could feel what I was doing.

While I was thus occupied, I heard Peter driving up with Carlisle. Peter would never miss picking up Carlisle. It was only me, his creator, that he would leave stranded at the damn airport. Fucker.

Carlisle came by, leaning into the bedroom to let me know he had arrived. He mouthed, "How is she?"

I nodded that she was ok.

He nodded and whispered that he was going to get his computer set up in one of the bedrooms in order to send some e-mails.

He had already told me that he thought it would be best to wait until we were at the airport to actually join us, as Bella would probably freak when she saw him since he had been her trusted physician up until now. He thought keeping her quiet until the final leg of our trip was the best option for all of us. I agreed.

He had, however, brought some medical equipment, just in case there was a problem with the change. Or, more likely, she had yet another one of the super-klutz accidents that kept landing her in his Emergency Room.

I settled into the chair in our bedroom, relaxing as best I could while surrounded with the burning fire of her scent while I waited for her to wake up. It was time to tell her what I was.

PLEASE REVIEW.

CURRENTLY THIS IS A ONE-SHOT.


	2. Chapter 2

The usual disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns it all. I just like playing with the characters. Especially Jasper. And this is his version of his story…

The Heat and Fire – Another Jasper/Bella Kidnap Story – Jasper's POV

PLEASE NOTE - THIS IS OUTTAKE FROM ANOTHER STORY AND IS NOT DESIGNED TO STAND ALONE.

_This is Jasper's POV of my story "The Heat: Another Jasper/Bella Kidnap Story."_

Special thanks to EdwardsMate4ever for beta-ing this chapter without any notice.

Chapter 2 – Uh-oh

Bella woke up after sunset, slowly untangling herself from the sheets that had twisted around her as she thrashed during her nightmares. As she looked around, I could feel her emotions start to careen.

Her glance quickly fell on me. She opened her mouth, determination rising through her emotions, shoving aside the fear, but her throat was so dry that she could only make croaking sounds. I gestured to the water bottle I had set next to her, and she picked it up and drank half of it in one gulp.

After setting the bottle down, she finally spoke. "What are you, cannibals?" she spat at me.

Anger. Now that emotion was better for me than fear in this situation. The scent of her fear smelled so sweet that it came close to undoing me every time it hit me. I smiled. "Nothing quite so human, I'm afraid."

Her emotions were mixed as she watched me, and I felt a little lust in there. Interesting.

But her next words were so banal they set me off.

"You need help…"

I could barely respond verbally to such an inane remark, and my animal side pushed through during this moment, causing me to leap for her soft throat. I grabbed her neck with one hand, but managed to pull myself back before biting. It was becoming very hard to restrain myself from the overwhelming combination of the scent of her blood and the swirl of her emotions.

I could feel Carlisle's tension from the room he had settled into. Everyone in the house had frozen at my move.

She startled us all with her next comment, though. "Did you kill the dog, too?" she asked.

I put her down. _Really, she asked about the dog? What the fuck was going on with her?_ Puzzling over this question, I unconsciously began to calm down. Then it hit me—that had been her intent. I smiled. _Clever girl_.

I answered her question about the dog, and she asked me another about why Peter had selected her for the kidnapping. So I told her the truth, "You smell really good to my kind. My brother had to flee to Alaska after spending forty-five minutes with you in Biology Lab. He nearly wiped out the entire class just to get at you. I know how he feels." Her brown eyes grew huge at hearing this, and I felt her struggling to keep her composure.

She decided to go check on the dog and started to walk to the balcony door. As she passed, I mentioned I was going to set up the computer so that she could place an order for bras and other female necessities. I felt her stiffened immediately at this remark, and I could sense the blush that must have spread her face, even though I couldn't see it, due to the slight increase in her body temperature.

She went outside to get the dog's name off of its tag. I was sure she was testing me, to see if I was going to let her pass. I nearly laughed, as she had no idea of how fast we could cut off any escape she might attempt on foot. However, the thought of chasing her in that desert might not be the best idea, as running would set off my instinctual side again. I stood up to look out the window, to check exactly where she had gone.

Just as she had said, she was going to the chained dog. It started to growl as she approached, and Charlotte and I slipped onto the porch. We couldn't afford to have the terrified creature bite her. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to keep him alive.

But Bella calmed him easily, and soon had his head cradled on her lap. She really had a way with animals. And, soon they will flee from her, once she is changed, just as they flee from me.

I got the internet up on Peter's dinosaur of a computer and pulled up a Victoria's Secret website. I shot him a look of disgust at the slowness of his system while I waited for the website to load, but he just shrugged.

When Bella came back inside, I told her I had the website up so she could place her order. I could taste her embarrassment with the concept of viewing lingerie online, knowing that I would be looking at her selections when I placed the order. It added another rich feel to her emotions. And it was pushing me closer to the edge, if that was even possible.

After she told me she was done shopping and went into the kitchen, I picked out a few more items for her on-line shopping basket for a surprise. I liked her blush, the sight of her fragrant blood rising in her cheeks – dangerous but cute, and I wondered if it would go full body. It will when she sees the order I've placed. I smirked, thinking about the baby doll-style negligees I placed on her order.

Peter and Charlotte have started the preparation for leaving. We're going to have to torch the house, especially after the disastrous clash with the Texas Rangers, before our move to the Colorado location Carlisle had sent Esme ahead to prepare for me. Bella was in the kitchen, eating something that smelled positively disgusting.

The anticipated disaster happened without warning. I heard a crash from the kitchen, followed by a spike in her emotions. She had managed to cut herself.

The first scent of blood hit the room like a bomb. I watched as Charlotte and Peter's eyes went black, and I started to growl. I'm the alpha and their creator, the kill would be mine.

I flashed to a falling human body, catching the girl before she had a chance to hit the ground, all the while relishing the scent of the sweetest blood I've ever experienced.

Holding the limp body across my knee, I leaned over for a taste of the red moisture dotting the wound on her hand, drinking in the unbelievable sweetness. The slight cut was not producing enough for me, so I tore into the wrist for easier access, but as I started gulping the blood down, I sensed the presence of others. Something in the back of my head was warning me about my mate, but I don't have a mate. Even if I did, I don't think I would share this blood with her.

Growling, I grasped my prey close to my body and crouched over it protectively. _Who would dare touch what is mine?_ I glanced down and saw that blood was starting to spill from the wound on the arm. The gash I had made to get at the amazing blood that whirled behind the alabaster skin was wide open, and now my meal was dripping on to the floor instead feeding me. I had to resolve this situation quickly, as I did not want any more of that sweet nectar wasted.

I looked up at my opponents. There were three of them, and they had split up. The female had moved to the corner of the room at my right. Still too close though, I would have to watch her carefully. I suspected the two males were planning to attack me, allowing the female to grab my prey and run. I glared at her, tilting my head back so that I still held the two males in full view, making them aware I knew their plan.

Then the two males split. One repositioned himself so that he was directly in front of me, while the other stayed in a corner. I waited to see who would move first.

The male in the corner started to edge toward me, so I put my prey behind me, preparing for the fight. Three against one is nothing new to me, as I am the Major who ran the vampire wars of the south.

But the middle male lunged first and struck low. He surprised me by ducking his head at the last possible instant, barreling into my chest as he pushed me into the wall and latched on to my right arm at the same moment. I clamped onto his neck with my free arm, but felt the other male slip his arm around my own neck, pulling me backwards. The first male pushed himself against my side and twisted my right arm off. As I fought desperately against the headlock, I saw the female lift my prey and sprint out of the room.

The sound of glass shattering behind me alerted me to the fact that the first vampire had broken out the window just above us, using my arm to smash the glass. Then he twisted off my other arm. Struggling against the second vampire's iron grip on my neck, I could only wait for my head to be ripped off.

But they surprised me by knocking down a wall, using the three of us locked together as a battering ram. Our bodies went plunging through the hole, rolling together until they held me pinned to the ground outside. The first male disappeared back into the house, while the second sat on my back holding me down while keeping his headlock in place.

I realized he was talking to me, and eventually I made out the words, "Breathe. Breathe, just breathe. It will clear you head."

Slowly sense began to return. The hot, dusty air flooded my lungs, while the pain from losing both arms sank in.

"She's OK," the voice said. He sounded familiar, and I pushed deep inside, searching for the memory, trying to shove the pain of the dismemberment to one side.

Suddenly, memory started came back. "Peter?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said with a groan. "Whenever I can let you up, you can have your arms back, and then I gotta work on me. So hurry up and get yourself together, OK?"

I realized I was lying face down on the ground, looking at broken glass plus some bits of mortar and wood from the house.

"What happened?" I asked carefully.

"Doc Cullen says that when you tell me what happened, I can get off your back and let you have your arms back," he answered.

I started growling. "You know me better than that. I'm OK, so let me up, you asshole."

"Nope. You've never been involved in something like this. I'm with the doc this time," was Peter's reply.

My answering roar shook the remaining glass in the broken window and pieces of it fell to the ground.

"No can do," Peter said. "You talk to me first."

I thought for a few more minutes and then began to remember. Bella, my mate, was hurt. I immediately started struggling. "Get off me, she's in there bleeding."

"What do you hear?" he asked.

Struggling to throw him off, I listened. There was a heartbeat, low, but present. I renewed my struggles. "Is she OK?"

"Yes, but no thanks to you," he said. "Now, are you ready for your arms?"

I nodded, and he stood up, releasing me from his grip.

Groaning with pain, I put myself back together. It had been a long time since I had been partially dismembered in this fashion, and I was no longer disciplined to take pain easily. I had gone soft living with the Cullens.

I was partially heartened somehow to see that Peter had a few injuries of his own. It would appear that I had gotten in a few good bites and removed part of his forearm. I'd apparently gnawed on it a little, as he had to reassemble it like a jigsaw before laying it carefully over the exposed bone.

I snorted in his direction. "Watch it," he said. "I considered taking off your head completely, you know how much fun that is to reattach."

I nodded, as I did know. Trying to get one's head back on so that the vocal cords, esophagus, and neck muscles still worked took some doing. And if it was done wrong, someone had to rip it back off, and you had to re-heal the damage and try again. Sometimes it took three to four tries to get it right.

I slunk back into the house, putting my hands on the hole in the wall and jumping back through into the now trashed kitchen. Good thing we were about to blow this place up.

I went into the bedroom that Carlisle had turned into his temporary office. Bella was lying on the bed with an I.V. in one arm, and two drips already attached. One for blood, one for clear fluids. I could smell venom from a wound and saw his hastily removed shirt with venom on the sleeves lying on the floor. It would appear that Carlisle had not escaped the fight unscathed either.

Right now, however, Carlisle was crouched in front of Bella protectively.

"Thank you," I said.

He nodded, not budging. Charlotte looked between us.

"Those are some interesting fight moves you have there, doc, for a pacifist," I stated flatly.

Carlisle nodded again, but still said nothing.

"You picked up a few things besides some interesting reading while you were in Volterra, didn't you?" I asked, as realization began to dawn on me.

Carlisle allowed a small smile to move across his otherwise impassive face. "While I was in Volterra, Eleazar gave me some training in Volterra fighting techniques. I sparred with Caius for months."

Stunned, I looked again at Carlisle. "You sparred with Caius?"

He gave a tight nod.

I shook my head. "And all I ever did was train and fight newborns."

Carlisle laughed. "You are the coven's fighter, and no one will challenge that position."

"You fought with Caius," I repeated. "Caius has been fighting since 1300 B.C. He's probably the vampire world's top fighter."

Carlisle inclined his head in agreement. "One learns fast sparring with Caius. He doesn't waste time being gentle in the initial rounds."

I marveled at Carlisle's lack of scars, and he guessed at the cause for my wonder. "Sulpicia has come up with scar removal remedies over the centuries. They are a marvel, a blend of multiple venoms and some 'secret' ingredient. I suspect it was a mineral, but she made me swear to keep my thoughts to myself, or she wouldn't apply the ointment. She used it on my scars at night, knowing how fiercely Caius was attacking me during the day. I think she was afraid that I might not recover otherwise because of my animal diet." He laughed.

I looked at the unconscious girl lying on the bed. "Will she be OK when she wakes up?" I asked softly.

Carlisle shot a look at me. "Yes, but we're going to have to move quickly. As you seem to no longer be a threat, you should get someone to bring an ambulance. I'm going to need more emergency equipment than I thought. Blood transfusions don't always go smoothly."

I nodded and called out to Peter.

He yelled back that he was packing a few things into the car, and then he would come in.

Finally, Bella's eyelids began to flutter. Carlisle positioned himself above her so that she would be the first thing she saw when she awoke. He shot a last glance at me and then assumed the careful, concerned look that would be the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes.

PLEASE REVIEW. I'M CURIOUS TO KNOW WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF THIS CHAPTER, DOES IT ANSWER QUESTIONS?


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